


Skull

by LadyHoneyblue



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Artefact, Deck of Many Things, Rivalry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-09
Updated: 2012-07-09
Packaged: 2017-11-09 12:17:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/455363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyHoneyblue/pseuds/LadyHoneyblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Turnabout is fair play. But what about turning the turnabout?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Skull

**Author's Note:**

> I have played D&D for many years. I got inspired by a certain artefact in the DMG (and the beginning of an Elton John song) and this just wrote itself. I hope you enjoy it.

He stepped out of the shadows silently. She turned, surprised - she had thought herself alone, and whoever this stranger was, he should not have been able to enter her room without anyone alerting her that she was about to have a visitor.

"Who are you?" she said.

"I am Pain," he answered. "More excruciating than you have ever known. Or I am Pleasure. More thrilling than you have ever experienced. Which will it be?"

"But, who are you?" she asked again.

"I am the baking sun in the desert who drains you of your life or I am the soothing rain who quench your thirst. I am the howling blizzard slowly freezing you to death or I am the glowing fire protecting you from the cold. I am your worst nightmare or everything you ever wished for. Now tell me; which will it be?"

"I don't know," she said.

"You have to choose." He smiled at her.

"I can't." Her voice bearing a hint of desperation. "I don't know what to choose."

"You have to choose. No matter what you do, you have to choose. You cannot escape. You will not escape."

His voice sounded calming yet alarming.

"If you do not choose, I will have to decide for you."

"You can't do that." The desperation in her voice was clearer this time.

"Oh, I can't, you say?" She could hear the smile in his full and calm yet still disquieting voice.  
"And who is here to stop me? Who has the nerve? It is obviously not you. You are cringing in front of me like a man begging for his life in front of a firing squad. I do not even think you could choose, even if you tried. I see I made a mistake." His voice was more contemptuous now.

"I thought you were worthy of a choice. But all I see in front of me is a shivering, pathetic, frail human being not fit for anything. I am afraid I have no choice but to decide for you. Who knows?"  
His voice suddenly sounding as charming as ever. "You might get lucky. But then again, you might not."

"Wait," she said, slowly lifting her eyes from her feet to his eyes.

"Well, what do we have here?" Amusement oozing all over his words. "No don't tell me. Let me guess. Could it be a slight hint of courage? No, that can't be. This pitiful excuse for a living being can't put herself together for such a grandiose act. Well, what can it be then? I am not sure. Maybe it is an attempt to copy a human's way of acting. Yes, that has to be it. I see no other explanation."

"Stop it," she said. She was sounding a lot firmer than before. "Just stop it. You have no right at all to talk to me like that.”

"Who says so?"

"I do." Her voice almost free of any shaking now. "I want to choose."

"You do, do you? Are you sure you are up to this?"

"Yes I am, and I know what to choose."

"Well, do enlighten me. I am waiting with anticipation." His voice, sounding more and more pleased, almost made her lose her nerve.

"You said I had to choose, so here it is. I choose not to choose any of the options."

"You can't do that!" He sounded surprised and nervousness was creeping into his voice.

"Why not?" Now it was her turn to smile. "You didn't specify the conditions. You just said I had to choose."

"But it is wrong. You can't do it." He stared at her so intently she almost could see his face. Quickly she looked the other way.

"You didn't say anything about that before. I have chosen now, so let me go."

"No, I can't do that. My master wouldn't..."

She did not hear the rest of it. Suddenly she sat back in her tower, looking at the card at the table. Slowly she stowed all 22 cards away in a box.

"So, that is how you use them," she mumbled. "Well you didn't win this time either. But this time you are really going to pay for your little trick. I have your deck now and from now on I am a lot more aware of innocent looking gifts. Maybe I'll give you one back one of these days."


End file.
